CROWS ZERO by Miike Takashi

i just finished watching the live adaptation of crows zero, good stuff from miike takashi. watching these two films reminds me of my junior high school days back in china: gang fights between my school and the rival. i was never involved in the gangs but i heard stories and saw people i knew getting badly injured and missing school. yup, my academic standing was not good and i got into a ghetto school. good times.

anyway, back to the films. the action is pretty good and the two films are very stylish (great cinematography), that's expected of miike takashi. on top of that there's a great theme song. the cast turn in fine performances and i like the two lead actors very much. especially yamada takayuki, i think he's quite versatile. his other memorable role was the anime nerd from densha otaku. but in crows zero he plays a badass/kickass young gangster. two extreme opposite characters and he mastered them.

the two films are very badass from start to finish, but there are some funny moments squeezed in there. i love the character makise. he's a tough and scary guy but whenever around girls he's extremely goofy and nervous. the two scenes involving him trying to make a move on the girl he likes are laugh-out-loud funny.

even though i love takashi miike's work, i do have some complains. the story is quite paper thin and predictable. new guy comes to the school, he wants to be on top. so he fights, fights, and fights one tough guy after another. and then the fights expand to the rival school, enemies become comrades and unite to fight a bigger enemy. and then, the end. the first film works pretty well as we were introduced to all these awesome characters but the second film becomes extremely uninteresting because there is nothing new to offer. the biggest fault is the non-existence of character development in the second film.

so overall, great fights, great visuals, and a good introduction, but the finish is just mediocre. miike, you can do better.